There’s been some buzz in amateur radio circles recently about a new radio by Yaesu that’s supposed to replace the venerable FT-817. News of the FT-818 seems to have been first leaked by the QRPblog. The post noted, “What we know so far is that is covers 0.1 to 470MHz, it is still a superheterodyne receiver, comes with a BNC connector and it’s battery operated. Although the specs say “tri-band”, FCC reports coverage over 4 bands: 0.01-30MHz, 50-54MHz, 76-154MHz and 420-470MHz.”
People were getting excited about this radio because the FT-817 has been in production a long time, and many of them were hoping that the new model would include some fancy new SDR technology. Unfortunately, that does not see to be the case. Ed, DD8LP, one of my colleagues on the ICQPodcast reports that this is instead “a minor update to replace obsolescent parts.”
The update does include a few new features that do improve the radio. These include:
- Increased power output 6W(SSB, CW, FM) 2.0W(AM Carrier)
- Improved frequency stability ±0.5 ppm : Built-in TCXO-9
- Larger battery capacity : 9.6V/1,900mAh (SBR-32)
These radios are a lot more popular than I thought, and even though it’s only a product update, not an entire redesign, I’m sure that a lot of hams will be happy to see that this product line will be continued. Apparently, they are the radio of choice for many SOTA activators, and many microwave enthusiasts use them with transverters when operating microwave frequencies. As a small, anecdotal example of how popular they are, we polled the panelists on the most recent episode of the ICQPodcast, and of the four of us, I was the only one that did not own an FT-817.
It’s actually making me think twice about NOT owning one. What kind of fun am I missing by not having one?
Ham Radio Outlet, and presumably other Yaesu dealers, are now accepting orders for the FT-818. HRO’s price is $850, and shipments are scheduled to begin in March. Perhaps I’ll pick one up or maybe look for the 817s that will undoubtedly be put on the market as some hams with an FT-817 purchase an FT-818.
All of the Cool Hams have an FT-817 (or several).
They are positively addictive, aren’t they? Even though I’ve had my 817 for less than a year, it’s so much fun that I wonder how I did without it.
I used one at field day when they were first released. I was not impressed. But recently I realized that was not their intended purpose. I’ve since bought one and used it for SOTA and satellite. It travels with me wherever I go. I also used it during my CWA classes. With the addition of a SOTABeams filter, this is an excellent radio. – K5PAV
Unless they’ve fixed the awfully huge current draw in receive and bleeding-ears DSP noise that the 817 had, I can’t see the point.
I honestly don’t know why people continue to complain about rx current draw with this radio. There are so many long-lasting and light-weight power options these days that it just isn’t an issue anymore.
The FT-817ND (now standard for a number of years) had the TXCO in it already, unless the one in the FT-818 is an improvement.
I still have an “original” FT-817, which also didn’t cover 60M.
The battery in these radios is an Achilles’s heel. At least I think now they come with a NiMH instead of the original NiCd. Even then, I find using an external gel-cell or SLA works much better for any kind of extended operation. I did change out my original NiCd for a NiMH pack with a connector on the battery door that allows me to fast-charge the battery with an external charger. The built-in charger is VERY slow. One nice thing about the battery pack is that when it goes bad, you can get a replacement one cheap (used to be at the local Radio Shack) as an RC car pack. It uses 8 AA-sized NiMH 1.2 V cells in a flat pack, for 9.6 V. You just have to re-solder (CAREFULLY! THERE’S A LOT OF ENERGY IN THAT PACK!) the connectors so that you can put it in the FT-817 battery compartment and charge it from the internal charger. The internal charger is a normal-type charge with a timer. You have to figure out how many charge cycles of what length to use to charge the pack. Kind of annoying.
I think I’ve seen or heard of a LiPO4 or similar replacement pack. That would certainly need a dedicated external charger, but would have higher energy density per ounce. It would likely be a three-cell (3 x 3.7 V = 11.1 V) pack. It’s usually tricky adapting a radio from 1.2-1.5 V cells to 3.7 V cells, unless the radio has a wide voltage range, as the FT-817 does.
It would be nice if the FT-818 came with the CW filter. I added a 3rd party kit to my FT-817 that replaced the original ceramic SSB filter with two Collins mechanical filters for SSB and CW. Great improvement for the receiver.
Finally, I have an LDG tuner that was designed for the FT-817 that is driven by a little gizmo that plugs in the aux jack in the back, that changes the mode to packet and turns on the transmitter, while putting the tuner in an autotune cycle. Very handy. A lot of those aftermarket kits came from W4RT, which used to come to Dayton. They had a web site, but it appears to be defunct, and there are reports on eham and elsewhere that they are no more. Too bad, because they had some interesting accessories. I also have their mic amplifier, but never installed it.
I also got a nice set of Velcro wrap-around closures pouches/sleeves that of course, are no longer available from the manufacturer. Something like Field Ops, or similar. I don’t have the stuff right in front of me, or I’d have a better memory. 8-)
If the FT-818 now covers 2200M and 630M for transmit, that would be a nice upgrade from the FT-817/817ND. Few radios cover the new bands. My K3s does, at a milliwatt level out the transverter ports. I don’t have any afterburner equipment for those bands, yet.